Saturday Crapfest

Saturday had all the makings of being a great sports day in Seattle. The Sounders were playing a struggling Revolution squad. Jake Locker and the Huskies were looking for redemption in Provo, UT against BYU. The Mariners, well...nevermind. The Mariners had a game. No one expected them to win. But the Sounders and Huskies were expected to win.

And then they didn't.

I'm not overly concerned with the boys in rave green. All streaks are made to come to an end. All teams can fall flat. No one expected Seattle to lose at NE, but in hindsight we should have all been scared. It had trap written all over it: 7 game unbeaten streak. Emotional game three days ago. Cross country trip. Playing a desperate team. Looking ahead to RSL on Thursday. Everything was lined up.

When Zakuani scored in the 59th minute, it looked like we might get out of Foxboro with a big win. A mere 23 minutes later and we were down 3-1, having given up three goals in a span of 11 minutes. Arlo White did his best to convince us that it was the refs fault for not ejecting Shalrie Joseph after his blatant slap of Patrick Ianni. I tend to not focus on the refs. They are going to make calls. Some may be right, some may be wrong. Whatever happens though, it is the responsibility of the team to respond. Simply put, the Sounders lost their composure. They gave up three goals. It's not something I like to see, but it's not something I am going to worry about. After all, we didn't get outplayed, we just imploded (now there is a homer explanation if I have ever heard one).

All the loss means is that Thursdays home game against RSL is suddenly looking to be much more important than originally thought.

As for the Huskies, I left the game like most fans, feeling like we let one slip away. Down six in the fourth quarter, we got the ball back on the 25 yard line with a little under 6 minutes left. It had all the makings of something legendary. From 0-12 in 2008 to 5-7 in 2009, Jake Locker was ready to take U-Dub to the Rose Bowl in 2010. Before they could get there, he had to lead them down the field to beat the Mormon's from Provo. It was that simple - think about. Lead them down the field in the first game and everything else would fall into place.

Unfortunately, most things never seem to work out the way they are planned. Locker tried valiantly, but ultimately he ended up throwing an incomplete pass on BYU's 22 with under two left. It was a punch in the gut; a reminder that we are talking about the same program that won 9 games in the last three years. In no way am I giving up on the season. It just would have been nice to get a win. I know all of Seattle would agree with me.